Key information

Museum number

Object

Gallery label

The Temptation of St AnthonyJan van der Venne (active 1616, died before 1651)Oil on panel

Jan van der Venne of Brussels shows the hermit saint Anthony visited by violent temptations. A blonde wrapped in soft satin beckons to him, while Avarice rattles a bulging purse. He is taunted by visionary demons: one has a skull bobbing on a snake-like neck, with a second head dripping from its nose. The artist contrasts the swirling movement of the fiends with the rock-like silence of St Anthony kneeling in prayer.